Trade Snowball Japan's decision to join the Trans Pacific Partnership was just a part of the strategy. The Nikkei reports that Tokyo also engaging in a trilateral trade negotiation with China and South Korea, plus a bilateral trade negotiation with the EU and Canada that will result in more than 80 percent of Japan's current trade on a nontariff basis. It is the 16.1 percent of trade value not mentioned for tariff-free treatment that is of most interest to Japan's trading partners. Food Flakes Stop All Breeding: Apparently GMOs are not the only evil in agriculture; conventional breeding is an abomination as well. The Inter Press Service quotes Friends of Earth Nigeria representative Mariann Bassey arguing that the introduction of a sel...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.